Waiakea takes a walk into the semifinals

The Warriors score the winning run on a walk to beat Baldwin in the state baseball tournament

By Fred Guzman
Special to Star-Bulletin

WAILUKU, Maui » The longest and, arguably, most eventful day in the history of the HHSAA/Wally Yonamine Foundation baseball tournament did not officially come to an end until 1:16 this morning.

That's when a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh inning forced in the winning run in Waiakea's 4-3 quarterfinal victory over third-seeded Baldwin.

The day was supposed to have started at 9 a.m., when a rain-suspended game from the night before between Punahou and Kailua was scheduled to resume.

But the game was moved to nearby Maui High School because of the still-soggy condition of Iron Maehara Stadium and it didn't officially get under way until 10:12. Punahou eventually posted an 8-4 win and, after a two-hour break, came back to defeat fourth-seeded Kamehameha-Hawaii 9-4.

The next scheduled game was delayed for 45 minutes when Castle assistant coach Brent Taniguchi suffered a heart attack as the Knights were about to take the field for their game aginst Maui. Despite the emotional stress on the team, Castle pitcher Royce Diaz tossed only the fourth no-hitter in state tournament history to beat the Sabers 1-0.

Castle then came back to stun top-seeded Aiea 2-0 behind sophomore pitcher Glenn Silva, who was making only his second varsity start.

In fact, the only seeded team to survive was No. 2 Kamehameha.

And the Warriors had to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the bottom of the seventh and needed 10 innings to finally subdue Kaiser 4-3.

Waiakea 4, Baldwin 3

Leading 3-0 after three innings on a perfectly executed squeeze play by Garrett Ameral in the second and a two-run single by Jarom Lee in the third, Waikea watched that advantage disappear against the hometown Bears.

Shaun Shima drove home Baldwin's first run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the fifth and the Bears added two more in the sixth on a throwing error and by virtue of a confusing botched squeeze attempt that confusing and controversially resulted in a stole base.

Baldwin again loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, but escaped the jam when Waiakea's Shelden Otsuka, tossed a third strike past Baldwin's Logan Kamanu. The Warriors then loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh before Rory Inouye received a walk from Baldwin hurler Jimmy Legsay to force in the winning run.

Castle 2, Aiea 0

Admitting he was playing a wild hunch, Castle coach Joseph Tom picked recently promoted Silva to take the ball in the quarterfinal game against the top-seeded Na Alii.

"Glenn's ball has great movement, and I wanted to give Aiea something they hadn't seen before," Tom said. "The kid did a great job, but our other players helped him by coming up with some great defensive support.

"I don't really know how to describe it, but I've seen our boys visibly mature in only one day," Tom added. "To go through what went through with the medical situation with coach Brent alone says a lot about their ability to adjust and come together."

Tom said that Taniguchi was in good condition at Maui Memorial Medical Center and thanked the response of Maui High trainer Chris Pagdilao, emergency medical personnel that arrived on the scene and Maui firefighter Eric Otani -- a Castle grad who just happened to drop by to watch his old school play -- for helping to save Taniguchi's life.

Punahou 9, Kamehameha-Hawaii 4

Punahou 8, Kailua 4

The two-time defending champion Buffanblu capitalized on a pair of big innings to defeat the fourth-seeded Kamehameha-Hawaii Warriors 9-4.